An air cleaner space station was working again Sunday after it closed in the worst possible time, when the company was still on tour and the crowd has swelled to a record 13 board.
Compensation for flight controllers, though temporary, was a huge relief for NASA.
Even if the removal of carbon dioxide had broken the system, the shuttle Endeavor would not have had to undock from the beginning of the international space station, said flight director Brian Smith. However, the system has to work to support six residents of the season in the long run, he said.
The machine for cleaning the air station in the U.S. side of the expansion of advanced non-Saturday, when it became very hot and triggered a circuit breaker.
Flight controllers managed to drive up and running again 8 1 / 2 hours later in the manual mode. This means that we need more people in the Mission Control – six every day – to manage the team of approximately 50 commands to be sent up every few hours.
Normally, the system runs automatically. Smith said engineers hope to get a software solution before have the system automatically.
An air purification system on the Russian side of the station is working fine. In addition, the station has about three weeks worth of cans to remove the carbon dioxide exhaled by six crew members. Astronauts have been based on the tanks to avoid an early undocking Endeavor if the U.S. the elimination of carbon dioxide not coax machine running again.
The shuttle and its crew of seven will start Tuesday, as originally planned.
Before departure, the shuttle astronauts had their fifth and final spacewalk to carry out.
During the spacewalk Monday, Christopher Cassidy and Thomas Marshburn of reorganizing certain sections of the cord, a piece of double insulation appeared in place of a dexterous robot arm and television cameras installed in the new porch of the Japan Space Station laboratory.
“We are all well aware that (spacewalks) carry a risk for them, and we will be very, very deliberate and careful,” said shuttle commander Mark Polansky. “In my book, the last thing you do is you always have to look out for the majority.”
After experiencing high levels of carbon dioxide in the past two spacewalks, the astronauts Christopher Cassidy promises to make nice and slow Monday. His first spacewalk last week had to be shortened because of the problem.
Mission Control has called for Cassidy to stop in, not so easy for a former Navy SEAL.
“Yes, I’m taking a bit of teasing about it,” Cassidy said in a press conference as his crewmates erupted in laughter. “I have a lot of demand and confidence in the system there. … It’s not like leaving them in the loading dock or overnight thing.”
Replacement of carbon dioxide removal system for the space station, meanwhile, will be launched in late August at the next shuttle flight, launched a plan long before this weekend’s problems.
NASA has involved extensive testing of the foam insulation on the fuel tank for that mission, and so far everything seems to be in good shape. Engineers wanted to ensure that the insulation was attached properly after foam was lost considerable Endeavor during the July 15 launch. The delay in the testing of the Discovery mission for a week.
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